Luck of the Devil
by Dark-Phoenix22
Summary: When a bad accident happens at Deimon, it is blamed on Hiruma. The only question is: where IS Hiruma? YES! The chapters are all redone! Chapter 4 will be up soon! Very soon!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield #21 and am making no money from this.

Author's Note: I HAVE THE BOOKS! Hopefully these renovations make this story better for all readers. (You gotta love Hiruma. He is the funniest little shit in the world.)

I don't know if this is true so Deimon now has a basement they call the dungeon like my school does.

Luck of the Devil

Monday Morning 10:00am

At all high schools there is are certain rules on what types of chemicals that the school is allowed to have. Anything that could possibly blow up is not allowed, and anything acidic is severely watered down. The young man in the older part of Deimon High knew this. He just didn't care. He was sitting at a table in the East wing of the school in one of the basement, or 'Dungeon' classrooms that was currently being renovated. Normally the class and corridor would be full of students at this time of day, but the renovation was an extensive one and classes could not be held in this part of the building. Because of the close proximity of the renovation building to the rest of the school and the nature of the work being done, construction could not be held during school hours, leaving the building deserted until the students went home. On the table in front of the student an assortment of things were laid out, most of which had no business being in a High school.

Various mixtures sat in glass beakers, some boiling over burners and some just sitting there. In pieces directly in front of him, was the body of a grenade, an MK3 A2 concussion offensive hand grenade to be exact. The fiber shell was opened up and waiting to have something placed inside it. The 8 ounces of explosive TNT filler had been removed carefully and placed with the other 192 ounces on an adjacent table against the far wall of the room under the windows.

The student, a second year named Mugaku Shinjirarenai, lifted a box from the floor and took out the brown clay like substance that was inside it, dropping the empty box back to the floor beside his chair. Breaking small pieces from the main block, he used the moldable material to pad the inside of the bottom of the grenade shell. He used his thumb to press down into the clay and make a hole in the clay filler to put the tube. Standing he reached for a small glass vial that sat alone in one of the racks on the table. Lifting it slowly, he placed it vertically inside the grenade on the clay and pressed it down gently. The inside of the tube had been seperated into two halves by a thin, hard wax plug, a viscous blue liquid filled the bottom half of the tube, while a clear, watery liquid filled the top. The top of the grenade had been altered with a powerful spring and a wedge to slam down on the vial a few seconds after removing the pin and releasing the grip. Breathing a sigh of relief as he placed the other half on top and sealed them back up, he lifted it and turned around, intending to place it with the other grenades already finished.

It had been an ingenious idea to lift the grenades from the American Football Team's clubhouse's basement. (All his idea of course.) He had gotten one of the school's first year punks to pick the lock on the door to the basement in exchange for one of the chemical grenades that he was going to make. The lights had come up automatically when he and the punk had walked down the stairs into the basement, and he and the other youth were shocked at the arsenal that was there. Arsenal being the only word for the sheer amout of offensive weaponry lining the walls to the high ceiling. Hiruma Youichi had enough weapons to stage a takeover of the city of Deimon in this basement alone. Shinjirarenai didn't want to see what his house looked like. The punk had sidled over to the wall of semi-automatic weapons and tried to lift one of the many well cared for guns that rested on special gun racks but Shinjirarenai had stopped him. The punk fought with him but had quieted when Shinjirarenai had explained a little about the owner. The other was skeptical at first until he pointed out the fact that Hiruma had an private arsenal on school property. Amused by the other's disbelief he had thought: _'Guess he hasn't actually **met **Hiruma face to face yet.'_

The owner of the private arsenal didn't use grenades _too_ often and might not notice the few missing that they planned to take, but Shinjirarenai could see that all of these particular guns were well cared for, the black and silver metal shining with oil in the flourescent light. Many of the guns showed signs of wear under the oil, grips and stocks worn smooth from frequent handling. The AK-47's and rocket launchers especially, indicating that Hiruma used them fairly often. Indeed, one of each of the afore mentioned weapons had been missing as well as a few hand guns from the back wall. Shinjirarenai had seen most of these weapons make an appearance at one point or another, although he was unable to tell guns of the same type apart, and knew that the gun obsessed Demon that owned them would notice their absence immediately. If that happened, they wouldn't have a snowflake's chance in hell of escaping that particular blonde Demon's wrath. He had ignored the other's further gaping and had started going through the large amount of boxes on the floor and shelves that were emblazoned with a head-on silhouette of Hiruma's evilly grinning face. Upon finding the right box he had grabbed the still staring punk and pushed him up the stairs before him, the lights going out as they reached the top and relocked the door.

Shinjirarenai looked down at the finished grenade in his hand. It had taken almost a week to finish them all but he had been right. The Demon Hiruma hadn't noticed the lack of a box full of grenades and the young man and his punk partner were feeling pretty good. They were the first ones _ever_ to pull one over on Hiruma. Now the thoughts of what the grenades could be used for rushed madly through his head. Like the thought of being able to use these new grenades to steal Hiruma's crown as the most dangerous and influential student at Deimon High. It was intoxicating.

He was still floating high on his fantasys about what he could do with the grenades as he stood, and was walking towards the table against the inner wall with the finished chemical grenades on it when he caught his foot on the box he had left on the floor and tripped. His arms flew forwards, hands opening in a too late attempt to save himself from falling flat on his face. The impact did little damage to his young body and he managed to bounce to his feet almost immediately using both hands. His eyes widened as realization hit home. He looked up just in time to see the grenade, that he had thrown accidentally as a natural reaction to his over-balanced state, land with a dull thud and the muffled _'crsh' _of breaking glass, on top of the pile of others and bounce. His blue eyes widened at his next realization. There was no pin in the top. He raced forwards, arms reaching out, at a speed that would make Seijuro Shin green with envy. He never made it.

It had taken a few seconds for the liquid in the hollow for the now broken glass tube to mix, the watery fluid reacting with the viscous. The molecules inside moving faster as the reaction moved further along, the liquid boiling, building pressure. The explosion when it came, was still above the table, and awe inspiring in it's fury. Greenish white, and almost invisible flames spread outwards, propelled by the compressed gasses greated inside the grenade's black, fiber body and setting fire to the walls and Shinjirarenai's hair, clothing and skin. The concussion pushing down on the table shattered the table legs and tipped it over backwards, throwing the other grenades into the wall. The clay inside managed to keep most of the glass tubes together but the few that broke sealed the fate of the others. The second explosion came only seconds after the first and near the floor, destroying the wall and gutting the building behind it.

The substance inside the grenades, being of a highly volatile nature and designed to do as much damage as possible, shattered the fiberglass sleeve over the top of the grenade and propelled the pieces outwards. The almost powdered fiberglass, being at waist height and propelled at high speeds by the 25 exploding grenades, sliced messily into Shinjirarenai's body, mincing his chest and face to the point that it looked like raw hamburger. The concussion put out the flames on his front and threw him backwards across the room into the table of TNT from the original grenades. The invisible white flames still burning on his back lit the TNT on fire too. The exploding TNT completely obliterated Shinjirarenai's body above the waist sending blood and pieces of intestines spraying across the room. The youth felt only brief moments of pain and terror as he hit the table of TNT, the fire having destroyed most of the skin and nerves, before his thoughts and dreams were silenced forever.

The type of grenade that Shinjirarenai had stolen was primarily used for close combat, designed to produce casulties but limit damage to friendly personel, but were also used for demolition in enclosed areas like a building. The chemical explosions created a large concussion, clearing out the basement, collapsing walls and weakening the building supports but not doing much damage over all. The TNT explosives taken from the 25 grenades obliterated nearly the entire wing of the school in just a few seconds tearing a massive, gaping hole out of the four floors even though almost half of the power went into destroying the courtyard between the two protrusions from the East Wing. Metal fragments of support beams and chunks of wood and cinder blocks were thrown as far away as the street on the opposite side of the football field, shattering windows in the classrooms in the west and the remainder of the east wing. Dust and smoke chased by flames belched up from the hole in the building, debris flying high into the sky like a beacon

Students in the field screamed and dropped flat or ran for cover, protecting their heads from the debris which was falling like rain. Their screams of terror completely drowned out by the echoing sound of the explosion and the roar of falling concrete.

Moments after the original explosion, there was a second one, not as loud but just as powerful, as the wing closed off and seperated from the rest of the school for renovations started to sway. Students raced from classrooms near the building as it tipped and slammed into the East Wing corridor destroying the third and fourth floor classrooms, dropping concrete, cinderblocks, and steel down into the growing hole under the building. The overstressed second floor collapsed with another loud explosion like the amplified crack of a whip, the concrete ceiling meeting the floor and smashing through it. The falling building started to slide, screeching down the side of the East Wing corridor, ripping a gash down the side that you could see clearthrough. When it finally hit ground the wave of fast moving dust, debris, and air flattened the trees and shelter by the bus stop, and completely covered the road in a thick haze of dust.

The football team, led by Sena, had come outside at the first explosion but were driven back inside by the rain of debris, where they watched in horror as the building collapsed. There was only one thought running through their heads as they stood there. _Had Hiruma done this?_

* * *

Hiruma Youichi, Quarterback of the American football High School Team, The Deimon Devil Bats, snarled in anger as he kicked the box of grenades back against the wall. Just as he had thought. He was short one box. He knew that he hadn't used them so therefore, someone must have taken them. His brilliant green eyes narrowed. There was only one student in the school that could open the lock that he had put on the door to the clubhouse's basement, but he was too stupid to know that there was anything of value down there. Add to that, the door to the basement was inside the clubhouse. He whirled and started up the staircase. There was a surveillance camera inside the clubhouse that only watched the basement door. It had been disguised so that one wouldn't know it if they were looking right at it, specifically for a time like this. There had always been the chance that someone would tryto steal from him, but Hiruma had done everything he could to prevent that. He knew that while he swung a gun around like it was a toy, he was trained to use one, and had years of experience as well as a sterling record for aiming, most people, while they might have an idea from T.V. did not have the first clue how to use semi-automatic, or automatic weapons, and would probably kill themselves or someone else. 

Quieted by the thought, he silently made his way up the stairs and to his computer. The camera sent an encoded wireless signal directly to his phone that he could watch if he plugged it into his laptop. Since the last time he had been down there and had done inventory was a week ago, and he knew for a fact that the grenades had been there, they had to have been taken around the same time. Sitting down in a chair, he took his red cellphone and the cord out of his pocket and plugged it into the jack on the side of his laptop. It took almost an hour before he found the footage that he was looking for. He bared his teeth in a snarl and a low growl rumbled in his chest, silencing the conversation of his team members around him. The team recoiled when they saw him. The snarls previous to this one had been scary enough, but the inhuman rumbling from his chest brought out prey instincts that made them all shrink back against the wall farthest from the source of their fear. Their frightened eyes focused on the gleaming white canines that seemed to be a lot bigger and more dangerous that originally thought. Hiruma never even looked in their direction as he stood, leaving the computer playing the security tape of the students taking the grenades and stalked to the door slamming it open, and walking in a straight line towards the rear gate and west entrance to the school.

Hiruma had absently noticed the reactions from his team mates but didn't pay them any attention. He knew where to look for the person who had stolen his grenades, there was only one place that he could go now to be alone. Mugaku Shinjirarenai was a second year student in his class that he knew hated him imensly. He didn't really know why though. He had never spoken to the other youth, and sat on the other side of the room. He had always felt hostile eyes boring into him and more often than not it was Mugaku Shinjirarenai that was doing it.

He swung open the heavy door and was walking through the foyer usually full of shoe closets, now full of building materials, towards the stairs to the basement when he heard the first explosion. It sounded like a loud dull thump and made the building shake underfoot, dust cascading down onto him from the gutted ceiling. His ears barely had time to twitch at the recognizable sound when the second explosion blew apart the wall and floor next to and below him.

Letting out a surprised yell, Hiruma scrabbled for something to grab onto as the floor disappeared from below him. He hit the concrete basement floor landing with a dull thump and a quiet splash. Time seemed to slow down as he looked to the side. He screamed and recoiled deeper into the building. The sight of the body severed at the waist, blood and organs pooling around it was burned into his mind. He belatedly registered the trail of blood leading away from the body and looked down. His pants and hands were covered in blood, leaving a trail behind him as he tried to escape the sight. He cursed and tried to wipe the blood off on his pants but only ended up smearing it worse. A scream of tortured metal against concrete made him look up. A mass of steel and concrete was coming falling towards him. He scrambled to his feet and started to run heading deeper into the school.

* * *

Mugaku Shinjirarenai - means 'incredible ignorance'I think 

What do you think of the new chapter? Is it better than the old one?

What do you think? This is the first story that I have written for this category. PLEASE REVIEW!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I still do not own any of these characters.

Author's Note: I got 3 reviews in one day! COOL!

Chapter 2

Dust choked the remains of the Dungeon hallway that Hiruma was running through, arms raised protectively over his head, chunks of the first floor ceiling raining down onto him. Flames burned hot on the walls, turning the already trecherous basement hallway into a seeming death trap. Leaping over the debris on the floor, he felt more than heard the third explosion. A dull, bass THWUMP that made his ears pop painfully, then a wall of pressure that hit him like a train, picking him up off his feet and driving him with crushing force into the wall dividing the corridor and the stairs. Air screamed past his ears blocking out the sounds of the building exploding. His vision started to go black as the intense pressure continued, the fabric of his shirt ripping down the middle of his back and compressing his chest so hard that he could feel some of his ribs shatter. The wall under his chest gave suddenly, and he was thrown to the floor under the stairs.

From his vantage point under the stairs, protected from debris by the stairs, he could barely see the fate of the building through the dust, smoke and his own failing vision. The building wavered in his vision. Was it...? Good God. The building was falling - in his direction. The remaining support columns that he could see were definately leaning in his direction. In his shocky condition, his body refused to move no matter how much his mind screamed at it. A whip-crack of sound made him flinch, the pain of his shifting ribs exploding through him and blacking out his vision. Through it he could feel a tickle down the side of his face. From the way the sounds were muted now, he guessed that his eardrums had burst.

He watched in shock as the building buckled, from the sound of it, the second floor had given way. Relief flooded him as the majority of the building tipped to the right, still on an angle, but less likely to fall onto the main part of the school. And him.

CRASH

A mass of steel beams and cinderblocks smashed through the stairs over his head. He screamed as a small chunk bounced off his back, the breath driven out of him by the pain. He choked. Struggling vainly to get air into his lungs, he inhaled short burst of dust and smoke, making his eyes stream and his throat burn. A flat piece of the first floor's ceiling, landed a few feet to his left, the air whooshing out from under it temporarily clearing the air enough for him to get a breath as his vision started to darken again. He had just gotten his breath back when the metal support beams and ceiling girders came down.

The first one came down onto his sprawled legs, one end balanced on the flat piece of ceiling, pinching his legs and keeping him pinned but not doing much damage. The second one landed at an angle across his back, smashing the ribs on his right, collapsing a small part of his chest, before coming to rest on the same piece of ceiling as the first. The feel of his ribs shattering under the impact would have made him scream as his body seized from the shock, but the third impact blanked his mind completely. A section concrete from one of the upper floors landed on top of the two beams resting on top of him. The beams bent, driving into his spine, relieving some of the weight on his collapsed chest, and stopped just short of crushing him. The beams managed to stop the concrete, but they couldn't stop the long, jagged pieces of rebar, used to strengthen the concrete, that were sticking out of it.

One of the pieces of rebar pierced his body just above the hips, slashing a bloody gouge out of his right side but missing anything important. The second piece pierced him clean through the lower back, puncturing his right lung, and driving deep into the concrete below him. The pain was so intense he missed the entry and exit of the third bar, a thin one, that entered his upper left shoulder gently grazing his heart. He gagged. Pain streaked his vision white, blood filling his throat as he started coughing, his body protesting the intrusion. The sounds of the collapsing building faded out to an unsteady pulsing. He was unsure, as his over taxed body finally gave, whether the disappearance of the light was his vision's fault or not.

* * *

10:15 am

Mamori stared at the collapsed building. The dust was just beginning to settle and reveal the damage. The world seemed silent to the shocked students as they climbed slowly to their feet among the debris on the field, their wide eyes focused on the smoke and flames that rose over the school from the remains of the West wing. The smoke was an oily black, darkening the sky like evening, flames leaping upwards over 20 feet, driven by the escaping air from below as the remains settled. The scream of metal, and the roar of the fire was deafening in the silence of the surrounding area. The sound of sirens, and honking could be heard in the distance.

A small whimper made Mamori look down. Sena and Monta were standing in front of her staring at the remains of the building. Sena was trembling, eyes wide in shock, small whimpers falling from his lips.

"D-di-did H- Hiruma do that?" Kurita stared hard for a moment at the fire, then shook his head.

"No," he said decisively. "This is our last chance to get to the Christmas Bowl. It's been his dream since Junior High. He wouldn't jeopardize that no matter how mad he got."

* * *

The field and the surrounding streets were chaotic as the emergency vehicles got as close to the school as they could, people from the surrounding area impeding their progress as they all tried to get a look. 

The shocked students were evacuated from the building and gathered on the far side of the football field, questioned while they were checked over by the paramedics, and counted, their names checked off teacher's lists before being released into their parent's custody. Despite varying degrees of injuries, no one was seriously hurt or trapped in the building, leaving Firefighters free to control the still burning fire. It only became apparent well into the evening that there were two students unaccounted for. Questioning the students brought to light the suspicion that had been brewing in the Officer's minds since they had recieved notice of the explosion. One of the missing students was Hiruma Youichi.

* * *

8:35 pm

Mamori shivered, her trembling breath blowing the ash that was still falling like snow away from her face. It was getting dark out and they had just finished a preliminary search of the building to see if it was safe, and to make sure that there was no one inside. Except for Hiruma and another student, everyone was accounted for, and they didn't expect either of them to be anywhere near the area. The other student's friends had said that he'd skipped earlier in the day.

Yellow caution tape sealed off the area, but despite the wreckage, there was only going to be one day off of school. The West wing had been separated from the East for the duration of the renovations to keep students from falling damaging or stealing the equipment. Despite the seemingly serious damage to the outside of the building, it could be fixed enough in one day that students would not suffer from an extended stay from their education. Once the sporatic fires that kept popping up were put out.

Mamori looked at the pile of twisted steel and concrete from her place across the street. There was a small shape moving around on the pile, digging into the wreckage close to the East wing wall. She squinted.

"Hey," she tapped Kurita on the shoulder. "Is that Cerberus?" Kurita turned and shaded his eyes against the bright flood lights that had been set up.

"Yes, it is. I wonder what he's looking for?" Mamori looked at him confused.

"Doesn't Cerberus always leave with Hiruma?"

Kurita nodded. "Usually he does, but sometimes Cerberus likes to wander around. He always comes back though. Him and Hiruma have an understanding."

"Oh."

Mamori nodded to herself and turned away, a sinking feeling that something was wrong getting stronger the farther from the school that she got.

* * *

Cerberus sniffed around the largest part of the pile. Most of the concrete from the upper floors had fallen here leaned against the outside wall of the East Wing. Water sprayed from one of many broken pipes, covering the area in a fine mist as it bounced off the wet concrete, and diluting the burnt smells of the wreckage. The water to the West wing had been shut off prior to starting the renovations, but some of the pipes in the East wing had been broken when the West had slid down it's side and turning off the water meant leaving an entire subdivision without running water. Cerberus knew none of this however, nor did he care about it except for the basic knowledge that the water was washing away the smell he was looking for, and he wanted it to stop. The damp, acrid smell of the mess almost buried the smell that he was looking for but it stuck in his nose. The one that he had come to associate with the one who cared for him. The other alpha with the sharp teeth, and a strange habit of walking on two legs.

The smell that he could catch told him that something was wrong. It was too strong and left a strange taste in his mouth. It smelled like something dead... or dying. That smell didn't belong on the other alpha. His great head lifted. The wind had shifted a few degrees bringing a fresh wave of the scent to his nose. There! A way in!

A few of the pieces of concrete had landed and fallen together to create a tunnel with a pointed overhang that hid it from sight farther than a few feet. Cerberus wriggled his way through the mess and slid down a wet slab of concrete. Water from one of the busted pipes spraying in a mist over the slab temporarily masking the scent he followed. He yelped as he landed in a pool of dank, and rancid water at the bottom. What was that? That small sound that even he could barely hear?. The dog lifted his body from the water and followed his ears deeper into the wreckage until the only thing guiding him were his ears and nose. Both were focused in on the only thing that mattered to him at the time.

Coming toa stop, he crouched down and sniffed at his find. Gently he reached out a large paw and touched the golden head of his partner. He let out a whine and pawed at him again. Why wasn't he making any noise?

Tbc...


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: See previous chapters

Author's Note: I hope to finish this story in about 3 or 4 chapters.

Chapter 3

Day 2

11:45 am

25hr 45min trapped.

Cerberus leaned down and sniffed at the golden hair pressed against his side. His partner was breathing but very slowly and hitched and watery. The dog had lain down around his partner's head, protecting him from the settling debris. He had yet to wake. The dog vaguely knew that he wasn't going to be able to help the Other, but he didn't want to leave. The Other had taken care of him, and now he was returning the favor.

* * *

Kurita looked up at the cordoned off pile of twisted steel and concrete from the ground a few meters away. There was no way that Hiruma had been the one that did that. He knew that Hiruma would have liked to blow up the school, but what teenager didn't? Sure Hiruma actually had the means to do so, but he would never actually do it. At least not until he couldn't play American Football anymore.

Where was Hiruma though? It wasn't like him to miss school. Hiruma, for all his other traits, was considered a genius. Much to the detriment of his teachers, who would like nothing more than to have reason for getting rid of him.

Kurita turned, hands in his pockets, and started walking. He had tried to call Hiruma the night before but his friend had not answered. He looked back at the remains of the West wing of his school. Movement caught his eye and he focused on the moving spot on the pile. Cerberus was coming out of a hole in the steel. He looked worse than usual. Dirty and in a hurry. Kurita had never thought that that particular dog could look any worse. He also could never figure out the reason that Hiruma had taken such a liking to the ugly animal. The thing was large, violent, and ate like a cow.

An uneasy feeling buzzed in the back of his mind, the knowledge that he should be more worried pecking at his consciousness. He pushed it to the back of his mind and continued walking away.

* * *

9:00 pm

4hrs. She had been sitting at her desk for 4hrs trying to do her homework, but getting distracted by the increasingly strong feeling that something was wrong. Her hand twitched towards the phone again. She sighed. Fine. To settle her nerves and put to rest that annoying feeling she would call Hiruma. Looking at the list tacked to the bulletin board that was hung above her desk, she picked up the phone and dialed Hiruma's cell. The only number he had given.

'Ring'

'Ring'

'Ring'

'Ring'

'Ring'

'Click. The customer you are calling is unavailable at this time. Please hang up now.'

Mamori stared at the phone in her hand a moment before placing it slowly back in the cradle. Her hands trembled slightly. That call was supposed to reasure her, the only thing it did was make the feeling worse.

* * *

A loud sound suddenly echoing in the small space around the two occupants made the dog's head jerk up with a growl. The noise came from a few feet to Cerberus's left, muffled under the solid wall of twisted steel that had barely missed them, protected as they were under the stairs.

'Ring'

'Ring'

'Ring'

'Ring'

'Ring'

**

* * *

Day 3**

7:30 am

46hrs 15min trapped

The team had met that morning in the football field behind the school. Kurita and Mamori asking each other hurriedly if the other had been able to get a hold of Hiruma. The news that neither had spoken to him almost made them sick to their stomachs with worry.

Mamori sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

"If he comes back alright, I swear I'm going to hurt him myself for making us worry like this." Kurita gave her a small smile.

She dropped her hand and looked over at the dog that was sniffing around the wreckage. He had come out of it nearly 10 minutes ago but stayed near the pile, seemingly loath to go away from it more than a few feet.

"Shouldn't we put him back on his leash, I mean, until Hiruma comes back?" Mamori asked Kurita. The large student looked down at her only just having heard her over the sound of the construction crews.

"The only one who can attach him to anything is Hiruma. He attacks anyone else." She looked taken aback.

"Why does he keep that ugly thing anyway?" Monta questioned up from his other side, the rest of the team, even the Huh-Huh brothers, moving closer. Kurita shrugged.

"I don't know. They met one day on the field and have been together ever since. Because Cerberus is loose most of the time, he could leave whenever he wanted." Kurita looked over at the dog.

"But for some reason, he never does."

Mamori squinted at the dog.

"What's that in his fur?" She leaned forward. "Is that blood?" She asked alarmed.

The others whipped around to stare at the dog. The fur on his belly and legs was stiff with some type of liquid that had dried it into spikes, turning it a rusty brownish black color.

Kurita held up part of his snack. "Here Cerberus! Come here for a second and you can have this."

The dog seemed to forget whatever he was looking for and bolted towards them, snatching the food from Kurita's hand, almost taking it too. The team took the time to look closer at the fur. It was indeed blood, a lot of it. Mamori ran her fingers through the fur while the dog as distracted with the food.

"It doesn't seem like it's his." The dog finished eating and looked at them for a minute. The dog didn't seem angry with them. Cerberus finally turned around after a few seconds of staring and ran back to the place that Kurita had seen him come out of, disappearing into the mess. The feeling that had been at the back of Kurita's mind since the explosion finally pushed forwards, bringing with it a thought that turned his stomach.

There was blood on Cerberus's fur. There hadn't been the day before. From all appearances Cerberus had spent the night under the wreckage. Cerberus looked like he had been lying in blood for at least a few hours. _Cerberus only cares about Hiruma_. The end of that thought train was like a blow to the stomach.

"Oh God," he moaned, feeling bile creep up his throat. The team turned to look at him. "What's wrong?"

Kurita lifted a hand to cover his mouth, staring at the hole in the wreckage that Cerberus had disappeared into.

"I think Hiruma is under there."

* * *

The feeling of air stirring his hair brought Hiruma around. He laid still for a second trying to figure out where he was. He took a deep breath. And nearly ended up screaming. Pain like no other ripped through his chest forcing the air out and seizing up the muscles. He lay still trying not to move until the pain lessened.

Movement around his head nearly made him jerk, the accompanying pain momentarily darkening his vision. There was something next to his head. Slowly Hiruma reached a hand up to touch the thing. Coarse fur and a familiar rumble explained what it was.

"H-h-hey, Cerb-berus," he said shakily. "C-c-ome to w-w-ait with me h-ha-have you?" The dog rumbled an answer to his voice.

"I-I guess your name, r-really does s-suit you." Hiruma coughed tasting blood in his mouth.

"It w-won't be long now b-buddy."

* * *

9:00 am

The school yard was boiling with activity. The American Football Team was standing off to the side with the police near the cars being questioned. After Kurita's revelation, the team had run to the construction crew that was beginning the clean-up. It had taken time to explain the relationship between the dog and the missing youth but when they were finished the crew, while not totally believing them, were obligated to call the Police and Fire Department to search.

The police and the fire department arrived almost immediately and the dogs from the K9 teams were milling about with their handlers. Students from other after school practices were standing over on the sidelines, waiting to see what was going on. The fire chief came over to the Football team.

"Do any of you know where the dog went in?" He indicated the collapsed building behind him. Kurita nodded.

"Over there. That little overhang under all the concrete." The fireman nodded and yelled over to the men searching. They waited as the men moved over to the area indicated.

"I found paw prints!" The Chief yelled to the police.

"Bring over the dogs!"

The German Shepards had long ropes attached to their harnesses and were sent into the wreck. One of the police trainers patted his dog before sending him in after the others.

"Find us a way in boy."

It took nearly twenty minutes for the K9 teams to find Cerberus. The find was heralded by barking and growling as the dogs raced back out of the hole. The police were startled by the dog that appeared. Large and furry, the dog appeared to have been made by crossbreeding a husky/mastiff mix with a lion. The dog was growling and snarling but made no move to leave the entrance of the hole.

The Fire Chief turned to Kurita.

"Is that the dog?" Kurita nodded.

"That's Cerberus." The Fire Chief snorted. "Seems to fit the boy were looking for if he is the way you say he is." The chief turned back to look at the dog.

"We need to catch that dog." Mamori looked at him.

"Why?" The Chief gestured to the growling animal. "Because that dog isn't going to let anyone get near that hole, he's protecting something." He looked at them again.

"Can you get him away?" Mamori frowned.

"We can try."

* * *

It cost nearly $30 in pastries, and took almost an hour, but they eventually managed to enclose the dog inside the American Football Clubhouse. The Chief nodded pleased.

"Send the dogs back in."

The dogs were released again into the hole, and it was only a few minutes later when they heard barking. The Chief looked at the police officer in charge of the dogs.

"What does their barking mean?" The officer looked at him, shock written on his features.

"They found someone."

"What! They really found him?"

"Is it Hiruma?"

The team crowded close to the men.

"The dogs found someone." The Fire Chief nodded hiding his shock. He hadn't really believed the student when he heard their story about the dog because the wreckage had already been checked and cleared. He was not very happy about being proven wrong, but now he had a job to do, and they were running out of time. After the first 48 hours, the chance of finding someone alive under all that were very slim.

"Come on people, there's a person under there! Get moving!" He turned to the officer again.

"How far under is he?"

The officer looked at the rope in his hands. The ropes the team used had a knot tied in it ever meter. He had counted as they slipped through his hands. .

"45 meters."

Tbc…


End file.
